I have a paper towel holder that holds the roll vertically, and sits on the counter. I could put it away under the sink, but I just leave it out.

I like that I can grab the entire holder to move from one side of the kitchen to the other (or the living room), wherever I happen to be messy at the moment.

I know what you mean about stuff on the counter. One of the goals of my kitchen remodel was to eliminate as much counter stuff as possible. To that end, I put a knife block in a drawer, put canisters in a drawer, made room for the toaster in the super susan, and put a charging station in a cabinet. Now all that's left on the counter is a small MW tucked away in a corner, and the paper towel holder. It's wonderful!

I have a stainless paper towel holder that I leave on the back of the counter. I like it since I can bring it anywhere in the kitchen that I need it. Are you keeping the beautiful tile?

I have a vertical paper towel holder that resides under my prep sink. In that location, I find I use regular towels more often which seems more economical and environmentally-friendly. It's not that difficult to reach under the sink when I need a paper towel.

We have a large single basin sink as does my sil. She leaves a dish drainer in one side of her sink at all times (4 kids). I didn't want to do that. So I got a small dish drainer that stores under the sink and I just pull it out when I need it.

I actually keep mine inside the cupboard so that I don't use paper towels for things where something else would do, which I would if they were the easiest thing to grab. I use a lot fewer paper towels since I started doing that.

SS holder on the counter. I have the opposite issue as writerblock. If a paper towel is not handy people including me, will use a towel or rag for thinks like grease, cat throw up, etc. A microfiber cloth coated in grease will not be washed and have to be thrown away. I would rather everyone use paper towels for that stuff.

Love that undercounted paper towel holder. My four year old and my golden retriever would have a field day with it, though...

I hear you on the OCD thing. I put mine on a tension rod -- like for cafe curtains -- up high under the sink. I have a second on the far side of the island up behind a false drawer front. Our design just happened to require one and it was a good use of a cubby space. Again, tension rod. You have open the door and reach up a little blindly, but it keeps them from sight.

I have mine in one of those vertical things on the counter -- I'd love to have them out of sight, like the regular dish towels (which hang on a pull-out bar behind a door --- not terribly convenient but I don't care, because I hate looking at them). I'm going to have to work on this!

so a regular old tension rod would do the trick? i have a 15 inch drawer that this would be perfect for.

Mine worked. I got a super short one at Target. I have linked one below, but IIRC, mine was even shorter. Maybe the size used for sidelight curtains down the sides of a front door? I've also seen oval shaped instead of round, which I think might work better. As a precaution, I added two of those square peel and stick pads made by 3M, like the Command hooks you can pull off. So if the rod tries to slip down the cabinet wall, the pads give a little resistance. I though, honestly, it might not hold, but it has, and the upper lip of the door provides a good resistance angle to rip the towels across. This is in a 15" cabinet, tho, so no room to slide around.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rod

Just saw this at Apartment Therapy:

Here is a link that might be useful: put island to use

Paper towels are mounted to the inside of the door under the sink. We use microfiber cloths for most cleaning so I didn't want the paper towels out all the time.

I got a dish draining mat at BB&B and that sits on the counter for dish drying. Much less obtrusive than a rack. Then I bought a second one because we use it so much I never wanted to wash it!

So glad I came across this post. How timely! My cabinetmaker is coming tomorrow to finish install including paper towel holder. I believe they were going to do just the wooden dowel between 2 pieces of wood. I had same concern as others - too many sheets would come off.

Little fishes idea is brilliant! And surprisingly, I have the metal holder LF used, waiting to be installed in a little powder room. Bought it from walmart. Guess the cabinet ppl will be using it for paper towel holder! Thanks for posting the great photos. Happy day!

Little fishes idea is brilliant!

Which one is that (I didn't see a post in this thread)>?

Sorry, it's in andrea100 link. (I don't know how to link). Scroll down. I thought it would work for what we already had but sadly, it won't. What I liked is that it rolls out (more easily convert to a drawer later), and the metal piece she used, gets rid of the PT continually rolling off (as depicted in the little cutie pic). I have same, but no rollout. too late to go back and re-do. :-(

I have one of those tall, mobile thingies I screwed into the door of my Lazy Susan. Thought I read that here somewhere!

I hate stuff on my countertop too. We stole an idea from this site and used one of our cupboard's false fronts to store to paper towels on a standard roller. It works great! (Picture not too good, but I think you can get the drift.)

I prefer a cloth rag or sponge to paper towels for cleanup, but keep a roll tucked in a drawer. It's not on a towel holder or anything, just a roll in the same drawer that holds my wax paper, Reynolds wrap, etc.

Giving it a try. Not thrilled with the rod size. But let's see how functionality of the set up is, and I can swap out for more aesthetically pleasing hardware later.